


Shell Game

by Sorrel



Series: Best Laid Plans [2]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Canon Bisexual Character, F/M, Fix-It, Gen, a triangle in nature, a very small heist, an assassin and a pyro walk into a bar, no ship like partnership, the pair with the plan, this fine ship this fine crew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-11 22:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7073101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorrel/pseuds/Sorrel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Mick and Sara have a plan, and the crew of the <i>Waverider</i> fail at situational awareness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shell Game

**Author's Note:**

> Follows [whistling past the graveyard](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6959935), but I don't think that needs to be read first for this to make sense.

"So we're in agreement that whatever his plan was, it definitely didn't work, right?"

"Definitely."

"Guess that means it's our turn then."

**~*~**

Ray's almost relieved when Mick corners him in his bunk one day to ask about the Oculus. Okay, well, no, relieved is definitely not the right word for it, Mick just comes up out of nowhere while Ray is just innocently reviewing scientific journals from circa 2050 (you know, just to get an edge up for his superheroing, it's not like he's currently running a company or anything where that kind of advantage would be unethical), and he almost has a heart attack when he looks up to see Mick looming over him like some sort of specter of death. He definitely yelps like an offended beagle. There might even be some flailing.

Mick just watches him, arms crossed over his chest. Ray eyes him warily, but doesn't see any clippers. Or shears. Or a really dull knife, that's always a possibility…

"I'm not here to shave your head," Mick says, demonstrating the terrifying knowledge that former temporal bounty hunters can apparently read minds. "I'm not reading your mind. You're just a fuckin' awful liar."

"I've been told," Ray says weakly, resisting the urge to pat his hair protectively. He won't look good bald. "And, I mean, good! Not that you should. I don't think I can be held accountable for something that was said under the influence of, of _interrogation drugs-_ "

"They got you high, Boy Scout. Talk to Glasses sometime if you need a refresher." Mick cuts his hand through the air, wiping away Ray's protest before it can form. "Not why I'm here."

"So…. why are you here?"

"The bomb." When Ray just blinks at him, Mick says impatiently, "The one you used on the Oculus?"

"Oh!" says Ray, who wonders how exactly he was supposed to magically know which bomb out of the last six months' worth of bombs Mick was talking about. "I mean, it wasn't actually a bomb, you know, we overloaded the control mechanism which took advantage of the existing energy instead of using any kind of explosive- you know what? Never mind, not the point. What, um. What did you want to know about it?"

"The… failsafe thing. That needed you to hold it down."

Boy, does Ray ever want to not be talking about this. "Yeah?"

"Did it have to be a person that held it down?"

"Yes…?"

Mick makes an impatient noise at the back of his throat. "Like, could it have been a big paperweight or something?"

"No," Ray says, glad to be back on solid-ish ground, even if he's not sure why Mick's trying to rehash this now. If this is punishment for letting the secret slip, he'd rather Mick was here to shave his head. It's not like he needs _more_ guilt about being the one to walk out of there alive. "The switch had a neural feedback sensor built in. Only live tissue, with synaptic activity, would register. To make sure someone was willing to make the sacrifice, I guess. To make sure it was taken seriously. And I think it had a chronal sensor array built in, as well. So you'd have to be a Time Master to push the button."

"Or some poor schmuck who hitched a ride."

"Well, yeah." Ray holds up his hand, wiggles his fingers. "Obviously. That part's just a supposition, though. I'd have to actually get a closer look to be sure, but since we kinda blew it up I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe if Gideon has something in the _Waverider_ archives-"

Mick cuts him off with a snort. "Yeah, no, I leave that shit to you." He claps Ray on the shoulder. "Thanks, Pretty Boy," he says, and gives Ray a lazy grin before turning and walking out as abruptly as he'd arrived. Ray stares after him.

"Huh. That was weird."

**~*~**

Martin doesn't think much of it when Sara starts spending more time in the medbay, aside from feeling glad that he's not the only one taking an interest in the medicinal arts available in the future. Gideon largely handles the diagnosis and treatment modules in case of illness or injury, but as they've proven several times, Gideon is not always available to smooth their way. Sara has been making impressive headway at mastering the complexities of piloting the _Waverider,_ and he can't help but admire the pioneering spirit that has led her to familiarize herself with the medical equipment, as well.

"Hey, Doc," she says, one morning when he comes into the galley to find her perched on one of the stools, eating something that only looks like cereal but definitely smells like bacon and eggs. "Did you know that Gideon can create cloned limbs?"

"Well yes, of course," he says, rooting around in the cabinet for his nice, familiar granola. "It's how Mr. Snart was able to replace his hand after he was forced to…" He trails off, acutely aware that he's talking to one of the two people who misses Leonard the most. "I'm so sorry, I had no intention of…"

Sara's smile is shaky but sincere. "It's fine, Doc. You don't have to worry about me."

"On the contrary, my dear, but I won't push. What brought you to ask about the cloning facilities?"

She waves the datapad in her other hand. "Following Jax's lead and reading the manual," she says, shoving another bite of not-cereal into her mouth. She chews for a moment, swallows, and says, "Got to admit, it's a bit dense for this college dropout."

"Nonsense! Learning is not merely the province of the already-educated, and you've proven your intelligence many times over. Besides, instruction books tend to be needlessly complicated, in the present _and_ the future. Perhaps if I were to explain it to you…"

Sara's little smile grows a bit wider. "Yeah. I'd appreciate that."

**~*~**

Rip is working through a requisition list and trying to plot out the minimal number of stops they can make in order to meet the necessary resupply when Sara sticks her head into his office, the rolled-up time stream charts in her hands.

“You mind if I borrow these for a bit?”

He waves a hand distractedly, trying to puzzle out Martin’s cramped, spidery handwriting. “Yes, of course. By now you’re likely far more familiar with them than I.”

“Great, thanks.”

She disappears again, and Rip squints at the list again. Does that say _fusion reactor?_ What on earth is he up to?

“Gideon, could you please monitor the lower levels for any ill-advised experiments that Mr. Stein or Mr. Palmer might be creating?”

“How would you define ill-advised, Captain?”

“Anything designed to explode.” Then he considers his crew and rephrases, “Anything that _could_ explode.”

“Of course, Captain.”

**~*~**

Jax has always liked Sara. Not like, like-liked her or anything, she’s not exactly his type, but she's good people. She's the only person who can get through to Hunter when he's being a dickhole, and she never hesitates to lend a hand, even if she pretends to grumble about it. She’s always been nice to him, even though she clearly thought of him as a kid at first. She never lets anything slow her down, and she was always great to Kendra.

Plus, Mick listens to her. Worth her weight in gold right there.

“You telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about?”

Jax tilts his chin up stubbornly. Man, it is _unfair_ how much taller Mick is. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you. You might’ve been some big hotshot bounty hunter for the Time Masters, but you don’t know dick about engines.”

“You know what, pipsqueak-”

“Okay, okay now,” Sara says, rounding the corner and barreling into the middle of the argument, a wrench in one hand and a smear of grease across her forehead from where she was fiddling with the launch bay alarms. She skids to a halt between them and shoulders them apart forcibly, glaring around impartially. “That’s enough. Jesus Christ, what got into you two?”

“Canary, tell this fool that-”

“This _little idiot_ thinks that-”

“Oh, idiot, that’s real nice-”

“I said, _enough,_ ” she snaps, and both of them fall silent at the anger in her voice. Jax feels a little shiver of danger run down his spine at the knowledge that she’s fully capable of taking him apart with her pinky nail and maybe a paperclip, and immediately feels ashamed for being afraid of one of his teammates. His only consolation is that Mick feels the same way, judging from the look on his face.

Or maybe he’s got a different tingle altogether. The ship’s small enough that it’s hard to miss the fact that the two of them like it kinda rough.

_Oh, gross. Why did I just think that. Why._

“Okay,” Sara says, when both of them stay quiet. “Explain. Jax, you go first.”

That earns him a glower from Mick, but he takes a deep breath and says, “We were having a discussion about the capabilities of the jump ship, and this-” He glances up at Mick’s glower. “- _guy,_ ” he substitutes hastily, “is adamant that the jump ship can’t go very far in the temporal zone, which is just blatantly ignoring the engine specs, and-”

“Got it,” Canary says, and turns to Mick. “And you were picking a fight about this why?”

Mick shrugs. “Got bored.”

_Argh._

“Okay, then, if you need something to do, you get to learn engine specs the hard way,” Sara says, and slaps her wrench against his chest. “Jax, take two hours, show him how it works.”

Jax isn’t quite willing to just tell her no; she's the closest thing they have to a team leader and he's used to following her lead in the field. But that doesn't make this any less of a bad idea. “Aww, c’mon, you want me to teach _him_?”

“I forgot more about time travel then you’ve ever known, little man,” Mick rumbles, and Sara jostles him with her hip to shut him up, not looking away from Jax.

“He is pretty familiar with chronal engines, he could just use a refresher. And hey, look at it this way: next time everything goes to hell you’ll have an extra pair of hands that actually know what they’re doing.”

Jax sighs and looks up at Mick. “You down for this?”

Mick crosses his arms over his chest. “Already be walking away if I wasn’t.”

“Great!” Sara says brightly, and claps her hands together. “Problem solved. And Mick? Next time you want to work off some frustration, maybe don’t pester the mechanic when he’s trying to work.”

Mick smirks. “You rather I pester you instead?”

“Just try it, big guy,” she says, and pats his cheek condescendingly. He snaps his teeth at her rapidly retreating hand and then swivels to watch her walk away.

Jax isn’t ashamed to admit that he does the same. Even knowing that Mick is standing right next to him and very large isn't much of a deterrent.

After a moment, Mick says, “I’ve got grease on my face now, don’t I." Jax looks up at him smirks. There's definitely a smear of black along his jaw that wasn't there before.

“Gonna get more if we do this right," he says, diplomatically. "Okay, so, this is the main propulsion unit…”

**~*~**

None of them get any warning before it happens.

“Captain, the jump ship has just launched from the landing bay,” Gideon says, in the middle of the night cycle. Rip flails awake and manages to slap the wall screen to turn it on.

“Explain.”

“Sara Lance and Mick Rory have disembarked the _Waverider.”_

He squints at the screen. Sure enough, the life signs readings on the _Waverider_ are coming up two short. “ _How?_ ”

“Sara Lance was able to disarm my priority alert functions,” Gideon reports. There’s a tinge of embarrassment in her synthesized voice. “She left a message. Would you like me to read it?”

Rip runs his hands through his hair, fists his hands, and yanks, trying to suppress a growl of frustration. _What the bloody hell is that woman thinking?_ “By all means!”

Gideon makes a small noise, the AI equivalent of clearing her throat. “‘Went to steal back a thief,’” she quotes. “‘Be back soon, don’t wait up. Less than symbol, the number three, comma, Canary.’ Is that last part a code, Captain?”

“No, it’s Snart,” Rip says, his heart sinking like a stone in his chest. “They’ve gone to rescue Snart.”

**~*~**

Twenty minutes later, the crew is all assembled in the flight deck, standing in a loose circle around the holotable. Sara’s note floats above for everyone to see.

 _Went to steal back a thief._  
_Be back soon, don’t wait up._  
_ <3, Canary_

“Shit,” Jax says, for all of them.

Rip points at him in mute agreement. “Yes, quite.”

“Can they… do that?” Ray asks, a little hesitantly. “I mean, change history like that?”

“ _No,_ for the thousandth time, they cannot interfere in their own lived history. I can’t imagine what they were thinking!”

“Can’t you?” Martin says, quietly. “Are you sure?”

Rip deflates. “Alright, so I know exactly what they were thinking, but it makes it no less inadvisable. They’re not just risking the usual _catastrophic_ consequences, but also risking the destruction of the Oculus, thus undoing all of our efforts to eliminate Savage and to restore the timeline!”

“Ohhhh,” Ray says, in tones of horrified discovery. “Oh no.”

They all swivel to look at him. “Mr. Palmer, would you like to share with the class?” Rip says, after a moment.

Ray swallows. “A few weeks back, Mick was asking me about the bomb we used on the Oculus,” he says hesitantly. “Wanted to know how the trigger mechanism worked. Wanted to know if there was anything else we could have used, instead of having someone hold it manually.”

“And?”

“And I told him no! The mechanism registered chronal radiation, synaptic activity… It had to be an actual hand, from someone who’d actually travelled in time.”

Martin gently clears his throat. Rip sighs. “Something to add, Mr. Stein?”

“Only that Sara took an interest in the cloning facilities aboard the _Waverider,_ ” Martin says, apologetically. “Such as the one that grew Leonard a new hand previously. I may have… explained the details of how it’s done.”

“Of course you did. And does anyone have something to add about where they might be going in the jump ship? We are in the middle of the time vortex, after all.”

Jax very slowly raises his hand. Rip closes his eyes.

“Mr. Jackson.”

“I… might have shown Mick how to reconfigure the jump ship drive to go longer distances in the temporal zone,” Jax says, all in a rush.

“And they’ll be navigating by the charts that I allowed Miss Lance to borrow,” Rip says, with a sigh. “Well, I’d say we’ve all been quite thoroughly hoodwinked. How long have they been planning this, I wonder?”

“The better question is, where are they going?” Ray says. “Or _when?_ It’s a jump ship. Jax’s modifications aside, it’s not really designed to go through time.”

“No, but Mr. Rory’s _Nova-_ class timeship provided by the Council _is_ ,” Rip says fatalistically. Oh, they’re all in such trouble. _Such_ trouble, and there’s nothing he can do about it but hope for the best.

“The time ship that we parked in the temporal zone when we took him captive aboard the _Waverider_ in Nanda Parbat,” Martin says. “Oh. Oh, dear Lord.”

“What Gray said,” Jax says tightly. “Uh. Anyone starting to get a tingling sensation? Like maybe they’re about to _disappear?_ ”

“Now, nobody panic-” Martin says, and Jax rounds on him.

“I’ll panic if I wanna panic! I think panic is the reasonable reaction here!”

“Captain,” Gideon says, cutting across the incipient argument. “We are being hailed by the _Pillars of Eternity._ ”

“The… astrological phenomenon?” Ray says, into the ensuing silence.

“The time ship,” Rip sighs. “Chronos’ time ship. What is the substance of the message, Gideon?”

“Request to initiate docking protocols, Captain.”

“And how many life signs are onboard?”

A long pause.

“Gideon?”

“Three, Captain Hunter,” Gideon says. If he didn’t know her so well, he wouldn’t be able to recognize the emotion in her voice as _joy._ “There are three life signs onboard. Shall I request identity verification for the individuals?”

“No, I think we can rather guess who they are.” He bites down against the trembling surge of emotion in his belly, a heady mix of black jealousy and watery relief, and shoves his hands in his pockets to hide the tremor. “Relay our affirmative to the _Pillars,_ Gideon. We will meet the jump ship in the docking bay.”

**Author's Note:**

> I love the crew but for a bunch of very smart people they can occasionally be _incredibly_ dumb.
> 
> I'm [sorrelchestnut](http://sorrelchestnut.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, come say hi!


End file.
